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About Me

About Amanda Trought.......

Welcome
Thank
you for visiting my blog. Do stay a while take a look around and more
importantly I hope you are inspired to try something new and share what
you are doing.

Who am I
I
am a Mixed Media Artist and involved with many different creative
endeavours - including - painting, writing, blogging, drawing,
photography, crochet, crafting, encouraging, planning, organising,
dancing - like no ones watching and laughing out loud! My journey
started with me at 11 convinced I wanted to be a singer. I would stand
on my parents balcony hoping a record producer would hear me singing at
the top of my lungs and sign me up with the hit song 'I'm only 11 trying to get into showbiz', our neighbours were gracious and never complained, though my little brother at the time use to make fun of me.

The Journey Began
Flash
forward a few years I got involved in Theatre, did a degree in
Complimentary Therapies, whilst doing a 'proper job' and worked as a
Secretary, rising in the ranks to be a PA and then an Executive PA, I
won't knock it as it has made me realise that alongside my creative side
I can be very organised and that's alright. Anyway, I worked in a
variety of organisations - education, design and health and picked up
nuggets of information and ways of working that are still serving me
today. It's alright to have unity in the left and the right brain.

Knowing what I wanted to do...
Throughout
my journey I have always continued to paint and draw and it wasn't
until around 2007 that I was given the opportunity to pursue my art, and
found mixed media. I started doing a lot of online courses
and connecting with other creatives. I realised that this was what I
had always wanted to do and it incorporated all of my passions, using a
variety of materials, creating a wide range of art and tapping into all
those creative parts that wanted to be expressed. This blog represents
part of this expression, you have to make time for your art, that shows that it is ok to have more than one passion and areas of interest.

I think that it has made my art richer by taking

the journey and picking up insights along the way.

Arts and Healing

I started working with Arts and Health after my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
I needed a way to express what I was facing, to understand and give a
voice to the many emotions that showed up and having a family of my
own. This not only helped me, but gave me the opportunity for several
years to collaborate with a specialist day care centre
in dementia care and other neurological conditions. The Art and
creative workshops have
proved invaluable as it has demonstrated the impact that creativity,
colour and massage therapy all have on these conditions. Subsequently
the work produced has been featured in a conference on arts and health
within the Health service - looking at the impact of art on health care.
I have been able to use my experience as a carer while combining the
creative work and have also been delivering talks to NHS trainee social
workers on the impact of the caring role. I show ways in which art and creativity has enabled me to deal with
the role, and generally how creativity is a tool that everyone can use
to work through and engage with a variety of situations.

Continuing to Learn
Having
recently completing a series of courses including Creative Reminiscence
and Art activities for recently diagnosed dementia patients I have
including my experience of moderate and severe dementia have an all
round view of how creativity can impact on health and well-being. I am
in the process of developing a range of materials for those who are
carers, artists or who work in a health care setting and want to
provide
creative resources for those who they care for or their staff. For
updated
information on my work or to buy go to - http://www.realityarts.co.uk/

Exhibition
I have exhibited around London and you can see
information on current exhibitions in the Exhibition news page. My work
principally looks at the use of colour
and texture and creative writing and how when combined they can impact
on an individual either as a viewer or a participant. I have delivered a presentation on 'Dementia Care - connecting
through arts' at the National Patient Environment and the Arts Conference in London and I have been
running a range of workshops and seminars on creativity and health that allow the participant to
develop at their own pace and examine their own creativity.

I would love for you to stay in touch, connect, leave a
comment, let me know what inspires you, share your creative space with
me and see your growth and join me on a creative adventure.